"Life is Calling, How Far Will You Go?"

I got home this afternoon from the North Face Outlet store in Berkley, and saw that I had a new email from the Peace Corps Ukraine people in my inbox. The North Face's "sample sale" was absoutely out of control, worse than a Labor Day sidewalk sale at an outlet mall. And everything was in size Medium, so I didn't end up getting anything except for a blue/teal beanie for $5. Plus I didn't see anything that I really needed, so I just bought the hat on a whim (still waiting until I get to Ukraine to find the furry Russian hat and winter boots). And its not like I should be trying to pack more things into my luggage since they're both like right at 50 lbs.

I'm going to need a hat like this to survive a -30 degree winter...

Anyways, guess what? My fears have been confirmed... my Staging date has been changed to September 28th, due to delays in processing my passport and visa. Good thing I checked my email and was able to call the travel agency before they closed at 5pm on the east coast.... otherwise I might have gotten on my flight to DC tomorrow morning!

"Rest assured that the delay in processing your passport and visa does not imply that you are at fault, nor will it affect your ability to serve in Ukraine... The list of invitees that are experiencing delays do not follow a logical pattern of invitation date, last name, etc." - Lenny Bankester, Peace Corps Ukraine

So I had to call the travel agency and reschedule my flight to DC for Monday morning, instead of tomorrow morning... what a nightmare. The first travel agent that answered the phone had like no clue what I was talking about, since they apparently hadn't been notified of the date change. But the second one did, and he was able to help me switch my flights successfully (though he booked me in middle seat for SFO to Chicago O'Hare, which does not make me happy).

This departure date change just serves to remind me that with the Peace Corps, things may not always go as planned and you just have to take what life throws at you and roll with it! I'm still super excited to be this close to leaving for Ukraine. Apparently delays like this are not that uncommon, since it happened to last week's Ukraine group as well. They just took advantage of the extra few days to go sightseeing in DC and dubbed themselves Group 39 1/2, according to my fellow PCV Tammela Platt. So I guess that means I'm now part of Group 40 1/2, and now I have another weekend in the Bay area!

In other news, my friend Becca at nostalgi'art presented me with one of her blog awards! Many thanks, I am excited that other people actually read my blog...

According to the rules, I have to:

1. Accept the award. Post it on your blog with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link.
2. Pay it forward to 10 other bloggers that you have newly discovered.
3. Contact those blog owners and let them know they've been chosen.

Here are the 10 bloggers whom I've recently discovered and decided to nominate for this award!